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I’m now working on a renovation project of an apartment. It was the first resort apartment building in Japan, and it was built more than half century ago in Hakone. Last week, I went there for the third time to study the place, but every time I go I understand more about those days. The man who designed the building was the architect Junzo Yoshimura. So, for many reasons, it’s a job to do with care. Good things must be preserved for long time, what does it mean and how to do it, that’s what this project is about.


In the last half century, life style has changed a lot. The structure, interior, facilities and devices have aged too. We should hand down things from those days the same as they are in their original form, but also we should rethink them now: how make these two ideas coexist? Accepting the existing, we sublimate it more. That is, it’s close to link the past to the future. Saying so, no matter how high the speed between ages has raised, the core of the soul of the people of half century ago and today hasn’t changed so much, so, the comfort and the feeling of those things is something unexpectedly shared.


Of course, we can also think that a fully preservation plan should be more appropriate. But I think we should dare to have also some new thoughts. Old devices that are still working don’t ask to be preserved but to be updated. For example, even for things like historical craft, updating is the only possible thing to do to maintain and take care of them not just as ornaments. (I repeat myself but, I’m speaking in case of things used in everyday life. Valuable goods and documents are different.) Actually, the problems of this building are big. Only a few families lives actually in the building. All the apartments are owned, but there are many of them that have not being used for decades. This means that in this way the deterioration process is bound to go on. What should we do in order that new people come to live here? What degree of freedom and interpretation is necessary to use? How can we make a good use of a place like Hakone? Keeping all these thoughts in mind, we are working on this project with the owner. We are now thinking how to balance new and old, confronting ourselves with those great and amazing details of those days.